The ASUS Zenbook A14 is one of the most intriguing laptops of the year. It promises all-day battery life, has an OLED display, and is built with a novel material known as Ceraluminum. It's also one of the first PCs powered by the newly announced Snapdragon X processor. But arguably the most head-turning feature of the Zenbook A14 is its price. The laptop just launched with a starting price of $1,099 for a system with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. A more affordable version of the Zenbook A14 will ship for $899 in March, but the model that just went on sale is worth a look.
It may seem odd to call a laptop announced and launched in January one of the most intriguing laptops of the year, but the Zenbook A14 was named the best laptop of CES 2025. That show saw several laptops from major manufacturers, many of which show promise and will be worth picking up. But the Zenbook A14 stood out among the sea of new hardware announcements this month.
The model that launched today has a Snapdragon X processor, and a 14-inch FHD+ display that can reach 600 nits of brightness. That screen is a Lumina display, which means it uses the best OLED display tech ASUS has right now. 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD round out a solid spec sheet for the thin-and-light laptop.
The chip inside the Zenbook A14 and the laptop's other specs make the device a Copilot+ PC. The laptop has 45 TOPS thanks to its NPU, meaning it should handle AI tasks well.
ASUS crammed an impressive range of ports into the Zenbook A14 as well. The laptop has two USB 4.0 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, and a USB 3.2 Type-A port.
An extremely light laptop
The Zenbook A14 is so light that our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino and the rest of the press were shocked. "We all were dumbfounded as it felt hollow, like a dummy PC. It’s absurdly light," he said.
Several specs of the Zenbook A14 are surprising when you consider the diminutive size of the PC. Inside the laptop sits a 70WHr battery, which is much larger than you usually see on a "super light" device. The laptop can also be opened with one hand, which is rare among laptops that weigh under 1 kg (2.2 lbs).
ASUS promises up to 32 hours of offline video playback from the Zenbook A14. Since few people will use the laptop for offline video playback exclusively, ASUS' figure of 19.5 hours of web browsing on a single charge is more important. Even if the Zenbook A14 falls a few hours short of that figure, it would still last an entire day easily. Depending on your workflow you could potentially stretch a single charge to multiple days.
What is Ceraluminum?
I've mentioned the Ceraluminum of the Zenbook A14 a few times, so it's worth explaining what the material is. First introduced on the Zenbook S 16 and Zenbook S 14 laptops, Ceraluminum is a unique combination of aluminum and ceramic. Making the material requires submerging aluminum in hot water in an electrolytic bath. The process gives the material its distinct color options and finish. Making Ceraluminum is also friendlier to the environment compared to aluminum anodization.
"The material is an oxidized layer that grows out of aluminum as the aluminum is submerged into an electrolytic bath of pure water and minerals ― which means that it is not a coating but instead still a part of the aluminum it grew out of ― making it 100% recyclable," explains ASUS.
Science and manufacturing process aside, Ceraluminum is a durable and flexible material that also resists smudging. The Zenbook A14 goes a step further than previous devices with the material by using Ceraluminum for the entire chassis. Previous laptops with the material only used Ceraluminum for the lid.
